Questionable to say the least…

Whether you love him or hate him CM Punk is a thing. After this saturday (9/10/16), the straight edge former WWE champion will either be in the win or loss column with his UFC debut at UFC 203. The Chicago native will dawn his signature Pepsi tattoo against fellow UFC newcomer Mickey Gall (2-0) as the co-co main event of the card held at Cleveland Ohio’s Quick and Loan Arena.

But wait a minute, let’s back track here. How exactly does a former sport entertainment star with no experience get sanctioned to fight in the most elite MMA stage on earth??? Butt loads of cash that’s how…I mean through a careful and logical judiciary process of course…(cough, cough).

So how exactly did CM punk get sanctioned? According to Ohio Administrative Code 3773-7-20(E) requires a fighter seeking licensure in Ohio to have at least five amateur bouts and a winning record in those contests. However, a fighter “may appeal to the executive director or Ohio athletic commission to have this waived.”

Punk clearly does not meet this standard, but according to Executive Director of the Ohio Athletic Commission, Bernie Profato his pre-determined matches with the WWE count as real world fight experience. “CM Punk has a wrestling background similar to Brock Lesner being permitted to fight in the past,” Profato said.

While both men did get there rise to stardom through professional wrestling, their backgrounds aren’t exactly the same. Brock Lesnar is a 2x all american NCAA division 1 wrestler who won the 285lb title in 2000. Secondly his first professional match technically against Judo Silver medalist Min Soo Kim under the K-1 organization which he won via first round TKO. Not his fight against Frank Mir at UFC 100 as most fans might think.

The second reasoning for sanctioning “Punk” was off of the strength of former UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.

“There was also confidence in the matchmaker from the UFC and the past bouts he has submitted in previous UFC events in Ohio,” Profato argued

Now Joe Silva is a matchmaker, so I’m not sure why they would go to him on a fighter’s ability to defend himself. His job is to make the fights that will improve the ass to seat ratio, not on whether someone should be sanctioned. He’d book Conor McGregor vs. Scott Baio if the PPV numbers were right, but I digress.

The bottomline is that this comes down to money. Once again our beloved sport’s integrity is being undermined by greed. Ohio state commission is probably lining their pockets with a kick back from the UFC as well as the boatloads of cash the event will bring to the city, and the UFC is hoping to squeeze as much as they can out of the spectacle that is CM Punk. No skill, no reason, just the fact that you’ll pay to see it.

But maybe I’m wrong, maybe Ariel Helwani is right and the sport has no integrity, maybe it never did. It’s just a circus for whatever the people want to see. What do you guys think? Is the UFC just a whore to the industry or does it have a chance to be a legitimate sport?